THE INFLORESCENCE AND FLOWER. 59 



Point to those where the calyx is above it. 



Is the calyx in all the pictures upon the chart either at 

 the base or at the apex of the ovary ? 



For this exercise select flowers that have their parts so 

 well developed that you can see distinctly where each 

 organ is inserted. Take, for example, the morning-glory, 

 and observe whether the calyx arises below the ovary or 

 not. If you find it is inserted below the ovary, label it 

 calyx below, or inferior (Fig. 181), and lay it aside. If 

 the calyx is inserted above the ovary, label it calyx above, 

 or superior (Fig. 182). Of course, if the calyx is below 

 the ovary, or inferior, the ovary will be above the calyx, 

 or superior ; and, when the calyx is superior, the ovary will 

 be inferior. 



Examine all your flowers in the same way, giving each 

 its proper label. If some specimens have the calyx in- 

 serted neither at the bottom nor at the 

 top of the ovary, but somewhere along 

 its side (Fig. 184), you describe these as 

 having the calyx half inferior, and the 

 ovary half superior. These words, in- 

 ferior and superior, came into use before 

 the facts about this matter were under- 

 stood. We now know that when the 

 calyx seems to be inserted at the top of , CalyXi ha if inferior, 

 the ovary, it is really inserted on the re- Ovary, half superior. 

 ceptacle, and has its tube grown to the 

 ovary. The true expression is "calyx adherent to ovary," 

 in place of calyx superior ; and " calyx free from ovary," 

 in place of calyx inferior. But the words superior and 

 inferior are in general use, and so are retained in schedule 

 description. 



